After D-Day, Whats your new strategy?

[cove]

Our Citi Select cards don’t question business expenses which can be pretty large. I use them for 4 night stays....pay for three as well. The points earn has dwindled and I may drop the card later this year.
Our biggest card use has been on Amplify this month as they pay on everything and Kris Miles are useful.
My Amex Ultimate was used to pay for Qantas as a bonus earn on the Double Status Credit run from Perth to Los Angeles. We scored the sale price, the bonus points, the best seats and flight times so that was a win for us.
I did go the 25% bonus to Virgin on Amex Platinum Edge from buying Woolies gift cards.
The credit card fee on Star Track freight bills is very low so that is a winner in 2019.
We had a large TELSTRA account and I had to use two Amex Ultimate cards to pay for the major telephony upgrade.

 

[desafinado74]

I might be wrong on this, but wouldn't the AMEX Velocity Platinum card be one of the best AMEX cards for earning Krisflyer Miles now ? Probably even better than the Explorer ?

 

[lovetravellingoz]

I might be wrong on this, but wouldn't the AMEX Velocity Platinum card be one of the best AMEX cards for earning Krisflyer Miles now ? Probably even better than the Explorer ?

How so?

1. Earn 1.25 Velocity Points per $1 spent,
2. Convert to KM - You can transfer points/miles in either direction at a rate of 1.55 points/miles in the origin program equating to 1 point/mile in the destination program = 0.645
3. So for every 1000 points you would get 1250 Velocity points and if transferred to Krisflyer you get 806 miles = You can do netter than that with other Amex transferring straight to Krisflyer. If you have the Explorer/Edge combo you are getting 1000 to 1500 Krisflyer miles.

 

[desafinado74]

How so?

1. Earn 1.25 Velocity Points per $1 spent,
2. Convert to KM - You can transfer points/miles in either direction at a rate of 1.55 points/miles in the origin program equating to 1 point/mile in the destination program = 0.645
3. So for every 1000 points you would get 1250 Velocity points and if transferred to Krisflyer you get 806 miles = You can do netter than that with other Amex transferring straight to Krisflyer. If you have the Explorer/Edge combo you are getting 1000 to 1500 Krisflyer miles.

Thank you for the reply. I have both the Explorer and Velocity Plat card. I was getting conflicting answers on which card has the better Krisflyer earn rate, hence why i asked here.

 

[SOPOOR]

My wallet feels lighter now that I have removed the 2 amexs from my wallet

the joy I used to get when you find out a merchant doenst charge a surcharge for amex is now non existnat, because I only get 1ppd Kris on my explorer

 

[andy2015]

Is Amex -> SPG -> AA still an option with the SPG/Marriott merger?

Redemption rate to SPG is unchanged so might be a strategy going forward.

 

[potm]

Is Amex -> SPG -> AA still an option with the SPG/Marriott merger?

Redemption rate to SPG is unchanged so might be a strategy going forward.

Yes, the SPG/Marriott > AA rate has not changed since the merger. So if the AMEX > Marriott rate works for you then it is ok.

 

[Tiki]

I no longer have an income qualifying for good sign up bonus cards. So I have to keep the Edge as long as the travel credit negates the annual fee. Our biggest spend is at supermarkets. I am more focused on maximizing Flybuys and Woolies Rewards by strategic shopping, using spend X for 10,000 bonus points things. We don't have plans for long haul travel in the next 3 years. Will be sticking around Pacific Islands, Indonesia, maybe a cruise.

 

[SOPOOR]

well, at the moment now that the changes have occured I can only see a few methods of earning decent points now
- sign up bonus
- business spend
- personal spend
- flybuys/woolworths spend
- amex referals

 

[MathNerd]

- amex referals

Yes, I noticed on my Explorer's referral screen that the bonus has "increased" by 10,000, from 30,000 to 40,000 points, but all of us here know it's actually a decrease of 10,000 to 20,000 points!

 

[SOPOOR]

Yes, I noticed on my Explorer's referral screen that the bonus has "increased" by 10,000, from 30,000 to 40,000 points, but all of us here know it's actually a decrease of 10,000 to 20,000 points!
View attachment 160671

but but but but its a positive change......according to the amex phone reps

 

[whughes3]

Just for interest's sake, it appears that Diners are still offering 1:1 points transfers to QF and VA for now; transfers must be in multiples of 10K though. So while that lasts i may be tempted to use the DC a bit more...

 

[ms1]

I have the Reserve, where earn rate is really staying the same after D Day, so no difference.

I have the fee free Reserve which comes with the Platinum card. Has the points earning structure changed with this card like the Platinum card? ie 2.25 points/$ and 1 point/$ on government spend.

 

[ToffeeDog]

I have David Jones black Amex, and use it for supermarket and petrol only. I was converting to Qantas at 1QFF:A$1, but now that's devalued to 1:2
I rang to complain, and went through the process of cancelling the card. After I committed to cancelling, I was offered a loyalty incentive of 30,000 Amex Rewards points to remain, which I took.
I've now switched to collecting Membership Rewards points, which convert to Krisflyer or Velocity points at 2:1 ratio. I'm looking forward to redeeming with SQ and avoiding the QF taxes ripoff

 

[SOPOOR]

I' never thought I'd do this but I've moved the amex app from front page of my phone to the back now since I dont login twice a day like I used to

 

[HockeyMonkey]

From here I plan to churn between 1 QFF point per dollar Visa cards and mix in an Amex Qantas Ultimate for 100K points x 2 every 18 months or so between Mrs HockeyMonkey and I. The extra 0.25 points per dollar just isn't worth it.

 

[travelnutjohn]

I've virtually got every visa or master card that requires income less than 100k
Ive cancelled my explorer
Kept my edge for supermarket spend and cos the fee is only $195

I'm going fwd earning both kris and qantas for everyday spend.
But because amex is now longer 2 -3 ppd

Nor can buy gift cards with gift cards at woolies.
My points earning has literally come to screeching halt.

Other than busienss spend do you guys have any suggestions on what to do?

 

[cove]

Have to convert some Woolies 5% off plastic gift cards into fuel cards for another 5% off over at Woolies Caltex with this months special deal.
Still paying ATO and Star Track bills.
Bankwest World finishing ATO on May 21st isn’t so good.

 

[DaveB]

Moved across to the Corporate Platinum ($800pa) from Business Explorer ($395pa) for the lower fee able to be used for my larger larger creditors and the spend limit on the charge card increasing tenfold from the Explorer which I will keep for the supplementary cards users until the anniversary.
Whilst purely an aside, didn't realise the three sections of Amex - personal, business and corporate treat you as three different entities for sign on bonuses.

 

[Bell21]

Yes, it's great isn't it - I didn't know if it was an 'official' thing or just a classic case of different systems not talking to each other